Summary of ROOTS 2009!

Perhaps inspired by the Bonobo teasers, this year’s conference continued the tradition of diverse themes and mind-expanding conversations. Alistair Cockburn put the event on the right track with his inspiring keynote on the roots of software development as a profession and his insights into the layers of proficiency – Shu, Ha, and Ri – where we all begin in the shu-box and aspire to achieve Ri.

Trygve Reenskaug and Jim Coplien gave us yet another rendition of their ‘grumpy old men’ who are, by the way, full of hard-earned wisdom. Gary McGraw once again shared the latest trends in security in the most entertaining manner as part of the security track.

Gertrud Bjørnvig provided a stimulating workshop to demonstrate the characteristics of agility. Kaare Nilsen, leading open source guru, held a workshop on using open source frameworks.  Tom Gilb spearheaded an entire track on quality issues in software development.

Other returning and well-received speakers were Jeroen Frijters and Martin Knobloch from the Netherlands, Lasse Kosekela from Finland, and a number of Norwegian experience reporters. Linda Rising closed the conference by increasing our awareness of the bonobo and suggesting lessons for we who strive to be agile in our software development to apply. 

Girls just wanna have scrum!

We all shared a powerful learning experience during an entertainment segment of the ROOTS conference dinner when Henrik Wigestsrand  shared his insights into recent object-oriented trends.  In addition to Cindy Lauper's pronouncement, diners enjoyed "professional entertainment, i.e., amateur entertainment about our profession" from a practitioner with a life-sentence > in usability. Henrik shared his redition of Abba with "You can dance, you de-sign... designing the fancy screen" and the real title of an Elvis classic - "Return to Vendor."

The audience thoroughly enjoyed the facitious summary of the day's program. Henrik's final song was an original verse in Norwegian that tied in closely with our closing keynote address.

 

Find relevant sessions for your ROOTS experience!

There are so many great session in ROOTS 2009, how can you find the ones that will help you and your project team the most? The answer – ROOTS summary sheets! Read more and download your copy today!
The committee has prepared summary sheets that are easy to follow, and combine all the sessions according to the major themes – Project Management; Programming and Quality; and Security. For your convenience we have gathered and categorized all abstracts into downloadable PDF files. All abstracts are available online as well.

Object-oriented programmin g was supposed to unify the pespectives of the programmer and the end user in computer code: a boon both to usability and program comprehension.  While objects capture structure well, they fail to capture system action.  DCI is a vision to capture the end user cognitive model of roles and interactions between them.

• Programming and Quality abstracts: [pdf]
• Project Management abstracts: [pdf]
• Security abstracts: [pdf]

The ROOTS participant shares our interest in better understanding how individuals collaborate to create quality software in an ever changing environment. 

Join us next year for the 10th annual conference in Bergen, 27-29. April, 2009. See you there!!

ROOTS 2008 topped attendance records!

What our participants said about us in 2008:

Eighty-seven percent of those providing feedback indicated that they were, “satisfied with the professional content of the conference.”
  

• “Balance of subject and substance in the program offerings; professional focus on making IT better where it really matters.” Meteorologisk Instittut
• “ROOTS format works; differentiates itself from other conferences.” Trygvesta
• “Overall an excellent conference!” Norsk Eiendomsinformasjon
• “International feel of a conference in Bergen is great.” Miles
• “Good mix in the program, keep up the good job!” Avenir
• “Perfectly sized conference – gives one the opportunity to talk with the speakers during pauses.” HiB
• “Positive format, content focuses on process and technology, not vendors and products.” Anon